Cinderella's Cleaning
by col716
Summary: This story provides new insight into the story of Cinderella. In this piece, Cinderella sorts through her whirlwind of emotions concerning the loss of her father, her envy of her step-sisters, and adapting to her new living environment.


Cinderella's Cleaning

She was tired-tired of it all. She saw how things just seemed to always fall right into her step-sisters' laps. It was like they were the expensive, exotic foods and she was the leftovers. Cinderella did not measure up, at least not be standards of the world.

You see, Cinderella was a different type of girl. Cinderella had a gentle and quiet spirit-a spirit of true beauty. Looking at Cinderella, most people would not do a double take, as she did not appear to be much at first glance. Although Cinderella was stunning in her external beauty, not many people saw this because she possessed a classic kind of external beauty. No, Cinderella did not have the straightest hair, or the tiniest figure; but she had eyes as blue as the sea, hair full of luscious curls, and a curvy, quite feminine frame. Cinderella had an external beauty that was different from most girls her age. Internally, as mentioned, Cinderella (Cindy, for short), had a gentle and quiet spirit…well, at least she was working on developing that. Cindy wanted her internal beauty to be unmistakable; however, sometimes, she just became so frustrated. Wouldn't you do the same if you spent every hour scrubbing mildew from floors and cleaning the dark depths of your step-mother's house? Interestingly, while Cindy thought her frustration stemmed from the same daily routine of cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, her frustration was actually from her lack of cleaning. Doesn't make sense, you say? Keep reading, and you will understand.

Cindy's heart was in need of an extreme cleaning-you could even consider it a complete renovation, an overhaul. Cindy's life had been a real whirlwind over the past few years; everything seemed to happen so quickly. First, she moved to a new town so that her Dad could live with his new wife (her step-mother), she lost her father, and then she was subjected to a new life-a life of non-stop maid service to her new "family". Cindy felt like life was surreal at times; like she was watching her life unfold from the outside-like an out of body experience. She saw herself exhausted, she saw herself depressed, she saw herself putting on a front like she was happy when visitors stopped by so that she could uphold the image of her step-mother's household. Cindy did not want to disappoint her father; she wanted to live as he would and to make him proud. Over the past several years, Cindy experienced some of the darkest times in her life. Cindy's heart was full on gruesome, rotten gunk. The gunk covered the walls of her heart-some of it had solidified, while some was still fresh. Either way, this gunk needed to be removed, better yet, chiseled through, so that Cindy's heart could be renewed and so that she really could make her father proud-so that she could live each day, no matter how difficult the work she was assigned in her step-mother's house, with an inner beauty of peace in this life trial and trust that life would improve and that there was a plan for all of this.

One day, while Cindy was cleaning the worst mess she had ever encountered, she broke down. All of Cindy's times of trying to put on a front and be strong, especially for her father, came crashing down. Cindy felt weak and was disappointed that she could not be strong and do all of the cleaning-she wanted to do it all for her Dad. As tears streamed down Cindy's face, she could not help but feel alone-nobody was around and, even if her step-family was there, nobody would understand her. In the middle of her sobs, Cindy cried out, "Dad, I need you now. I wish you were here. It has been so long since I have heard your voice-help me to know that you still care about me. Dad, I cannot go on-I need help. Help me to know you are with me…somehow…whatever it takes…show me…".

As Cindy uttered that last word, she heard a knock at the door. Embarrassed at how she looked and ashamed about how she felt, Cindy called, "Hello, who is there?".

In response, the individual responded, "My name, is Christopher-I knew your Dad very well. Would you let me in?"

Cindy explained that she was not fit to welcome a visitor at the moment; however, she knew she needed to let him in, as she was feeling so alone. Cindy opened the door and welcomed Christopher inside. Christopher could see Cindy's face was stained with tears. He explained that her Dad was a very good man: he was a man that was everything to everyone, that was gentle but stern when necessary, a man that wanted to make everyone feel special and important-because, to him, they were. Christopher explained that a long, long time ago, he had made a promise to Cindy's Dad: one day, he would come and visit Cindy and take care of her if he was not there; he would watch out for her and guide her like her Dad would have.

Christopher and Cindy continued their conversation and Christopher helped Cindy clean. Interestingly enough, the most cleaning occurred in Cindy's heart that day, as she released all her gunk and realized that she cannot bog herself down trying to do everything and working to make her Dad proud. Cindy's conversation with Christopher let her know that he was sent by her Dad so that she would be taken care of. Cindy's Dad heard her cries and helped her realize that he loves her so much that he would think to make a promise with a dear, dear friend, many years ago just so that she would not have to do everything alone.

From that day forward, Christopher came to visit Cindy daily in order to help her clean. Christopher became a reminder for Cindy, a reminder of the person her Dad was-a loving father.


End file.
